WO2013084793A1

WO2013084793A1 - Associated content search system and associated content search method

Info

Publication number: WO2013084793A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/080934
Authority: WO
Inventors: 仁志岡本; 晃弘東
Original assignee: シャープ株式会社
Priority date: 2011-12-08
Filing date: 2012-11-29
Publication date: 2013-06-13
Also published as: JP2013120568A; JP5945408B2

Abstract

A search engine (5) retains a database of stored information related to content which can be distributed from a front server (3) or a content distribution server (4), and searches the database for content, among content stored in a user terminal (2), which has the same series name as specific content.

Description

Related content search system and related content search method

The present invention relates to a related content search system and a related content search method.

With the rapid development of communication network technology in recent years, various digital contents can be easily received and used by devices installed in ordinary households and personally-owned portable devices via communication networks such as the Internet. It has become. As the number of network users increases in this way, service providers are providing services that distribute various digital contents from the service providing server via the network, and the contents of those services are also increasing. Increasingly diversified. For example, a user can connect a personal computer, a mobile phone, or the like to the Internet and receive all services such as dictionary search, electronic book browsing, news browsing, or product purchase. In particular, electronic document distribution services such as electronic books for mobile communication terminals are rapidly spreading.

Due to the diversification of services, a huge amount of digital content is sent and received. Therefore, in the digital content, in order to facilitate management, search, and the like, content supplementary information is generally given. For example, program information given to broadcast program data, or supplementary information such as titles and authors given to electronic book data corresponds to this.

Conventionally, there is a technology that uses this content-accompanying information for searching digital content. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for searching for content in a database using a content ID attached to the content as a search key. For example, if the content ID is 9 digits in total, the upper 7 digits of the content ID can specify the content series, and the lower 2 digits can specify what episode the content is. . If this is utilized, the content of the same series can be searched by performing a search while ignoring the lower two digits of the content ID.

Japanese Patent Publication “JP 2010-108127 A (published May 13, 2010)”

“Series content” is a series of names that are grouped into multiple content such as “Detective XX Series”, “Introductory XX Series”, and “Manga XX Series”. Conventionally, content that has been issued in order from the first volume or content that has been issued in order from the first episode is searched as series content, or content that includes the series name as part of the content title is used as series content As in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-260, the content ID having the same upper 7 digits is searched as the series content.

However, series content composed of a plurality of contents is not necessarily issued in order from one volume or one episode, and the same series name is not necessarily attached to the title. For example, there is series content composed of content with completely different titles. In this case, such a series content cannot be searched by the conventional technique.

Also, some content IDs attached to each content are not systematized for each series. Furthermore, content IDs are not uniform in the case of different publishers. In this case, as in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is not possible to sufficiently search for series content only by focusing on the content ID.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a related content search system and a related content search method capable of searching for content in the same series as content currently held by the user. Is to provide.

In order to solve the above problems, a related content search system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a user terminal and a server. In the related content search system, the user terminal grants content and the content. A storage unit that stores content supplementary information related to the content; and a search request transmission unit that transmits a search request including information on a series name included in the content supplemental information to the server, Based on information of the series name included in the search request, receiving means for receiving the search request transmitted from the search request transmitting means, related content having the same series name as the series name is sent to the user terminal. A database that stores information about distributable content A search unit for performing related content search to search from the scan, and the result of the search means searches and characterized by comprising a search result transmitting means for transmitting to the user terminal.

Moreover, the related content search method which concerns on 1 aspect of this invention is a related content search method which a related content search system provided with a user terminal and a server performs in order to solve said subject, Comprising: The said user terminal Transmits a search request including information on the series name included in the content supplementary information stored in the storage unit that stores the content and the content supplementary information related to the content to the content. The search request transmission step is executed, and the server is the same as the series name based on the reception step of receiving the search request transmitted in the search request transmission step and the information of the series name included in the search request. Related content with a series name A search step for performing a related content search for searching from a database that stores information relating to content that can be distributed to the terminal, and a search result transmission step for transmitting the search result in the search step to the user terminal are performed. Yes.

According to the above configuration, the content of the same series as the specific content in the content stored in the user terminal can be searched from the database, and the search result can be displayed to the user. For example, it is possible to respond to the feeling of the user who wants to browse the same series as the content owned by the user. In particular, in one aspect of the present invention, since the content of the same series as the content owned by the user is automatically searched and the search result is displayed to the user, it is very easy without bothering the user. Relevant content can be recognized.

Also, conventionally, content that has been issued in order from the first volume or content that has been issued in order from the first episode is searched as series content, or a series that includes the series name in part of the title of the content. Searching as content, or searching for content with the same upper 7 digits of content ID as series content. However, series content composed of a plurality of contents is not necessarily issued in order from one volume or one episode, and the same series name is not necessarily attached to the title. Some content IDs assigned to each content are not systematized for each series. Furthermore, content IDs are not uniform in the case of different publishers.

However, in the series search according to this embodiment, related content having the same series name as the series name in the content supplementary information given to the content that the user has finished browsing is searched for. Therefore, it is the same even if the title is not issued in order from the first volume or the first story, the title does not include the series name, the content ID is different, or the publisher is different. Series content can be easily searched. Therefore, it is possible to provide a service that matches the user's needs for browsing the content in the same series as the content that the user has finished browsing.

Other objects, features, and superior points of the present invention will be fully understood from the following description. The advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In one aspect of the present invention, since the related content having the same series name as the series name in the content supplementary information given to the content owned by the user is searched, it is not composed of a plurality of episodes or a plurality of volumes. You can also search for series content. Therefore, it is possible to provide a service that matches the user's needs to view the same series of content as the content owned by the user.

It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the related content search system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the related content search system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the content supplementary information provided to a content. It is a figure which shows an example of the dialog displayed on the user terminal which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the related content search method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Related Content Search System]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the related content search system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the related content search system 1 is roughly divided into a user terminal 2 on which a user browses content, a front server 3 and a content distribution server 4 as servers that provide content, and in response to a search request. And a search engine 5 for searching for contents. The user terminal 2 is communicably connected to the front server 3, the content distribution server 4, and the search engine 5 through the network 6. Further, the front server 3, the content distribution server 4, and the search engine 5 are connected to be communicable with each other. The network 6 can be configured by a communication line such as a WAN (Wide Area Network).

In the present embodiment, the front server 3 is a server managed by a content provider (Contents Provider) that is a business provider that provides content. The front server 3 can receive a request from the user terminal 2 and distribute the content. Depending on the content provider, the content can be distributed from the content distribution server 4 instead of the front server 3.

Specifically, the front server 3 and the content distribution server 4 are book providing servers that execute a book browsing service that distributes electronic books as content. On the other hand, the search engine is a search server that distributes, as content, a search result of content performed in response to a search request sent from the user terminal 2.

The user terminal 2 according to the present embodiment is realized by any information processing apparatus equipped with a communication function for acquiring content to which content supplementary information is attached via a network 6 and a display function for displaying the content. Can do. Specifically, for example, the user terminal 2 may be realized by a portable communication terminal device that is carried by the user individually, such as a mobile phone, an electronic book reader, and other PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and an HDD recorder. It may be realized by a home network configured with a digital television connected thereto, or may be realized by various information processing apparatuses such as a personal computer and a printer. In this embodiment, a plurality of users use the content distribution service in the related content search system 1, and each user operates one or a plurality of user terminals 2 owned by the user to perform the content distribution service. Can be used.

Although details will be described later, when a user purchases a content (electronic book) via the network 6, a store which is a web page where the content can be purchased is browsed. If the user selects and purchases desired content in the store, the content is distributed from the front server 3 or the content distribution server 4 via the network 6. At this time, the user terminal 2 generates a request for requesting content distribution according to the user's operation, and transmits the request to the front server 3 or the content distribution server 4 via the network 6. The front server 3 or the content distribution server 4 supplies the content requested from the user terminal 2 to the requesting user terminal 2 together with the content supplementary information. The user can also search for content in the store. At this time, the user terminal 2 generates a search request for searching for content according to the user's operation, and transmits it to the search engine 5 via the network 6. The search engine 5 searches the database including information related to distributable content in accordance with a search request from the user terminal 2 and supplies the search result to the requesting user terminal 2 as content.

[User terminal]
Next, the configuration of each member constituting the related content search system 1 will be described in more detail. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a related content search system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the user terminal 2 is configured to include at least a control unit 14 and a storage unit 15. The user terminal 2 has a communication unit (not shown), and communicates with an external member via the network 6 as described above. In the present embodiment, the communication unit can communicate with each member via the Internet.

The control unit 14 performs overall control of each unit in order to execute various processes such as a content acquisition process and a content search process, and includes a content acquisition unit 7, a content display unit 10, a content incidental information acquisition unit 11, and A search request generation unit 12 is included. In each of these units, a CPU (central processing unit) reads a program stored in a storage unit 15 realized by a ROM (read only memory) or the like into a RAM (random access memory) (not shown) and executes the program. realizable.

On the other hand, the storage unit 15 includes a content storage unit 8 that stores the content distributed to the user terminal 2 and a content supplementary information storage unit 9 that stores content supplementary information given to the distributed content. In addition, as described above, the storage unit 15 stores the control program and the OS program executed by the control unit 14 and various programs that are read when the content acquisition process and the content search process are executed.

The user terminal 2 also includes a user input unit 13 through which a user inputs various instructions via operation buttons and the like. The user terminal 2 is installed with a viewer, which is software for browsing content, and a web browser, which is software for browsing web pages.

As described above, the user selects and purchases desired content (electronic book) in the store. Specifically, when the user decides the content to be purchased and performs a purchase operation (for example, an operation of pressing a “buy” button or the like displayed on the screen), information on the content selected by the user (for example, a title, Content ID etc.) is transmitted from the user input unit 13 to the content acquisition unit 7. The content acquisition unit 7 generates a request for requesting distribution of the content purchased by the user based on information from the user input unit 13 and transmits the request to the front server 3 or the content distribution server 4 via the network 6. . This request includes information on the purchased content and information for identifying the user terminal 2 (for example, a user terminal ID). The front server 3 or the content distribution server 4 acquires content based on the information. The content requested from the unit 7 is supplied to the content acquisition unit 7.

Here, in the content, in order to facilitate management, search, and the like, content supplementary information is generally given. An example of content supplementary information is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the content supplementary information given to the electronic book data includes a content ID, a title, an author (author), and the like. In the content acquisition unit 7, the content acquired from the front server 3 or the content distribution server 4 is stored in the content storage unit 8. At the same time, the content storage unit 8 stores the content supplementary information added to the content in the content supplementary information storage unit 9. To remember.

When a user browses content, a viewer, which is software for browsing the content, is launched, the content to be browsed is selected on the viewer, and a browsing operation (for example, “view” displayed on the screen) When an operation of pressing a button or the like is performed, information on the content selected by the user (eg, title, content ID, etc.) is transmitted from the user input unit 13 to the content display unit 10. The content display unit 10 acquires the content selected by the user from the content storage unit 8 based on the information from the user input unit 13 and displays it on the display screen. In this way, the user can browse the content.

As described above, the user can also search for content in the store. Specifically, when a user performs a search operation (for example, an operation of inputting a search keyword on a search screen and pressing a “search” button or the like), information searched by the user (for example, a search keyword) is stored in the user. It is transmitted from the input unit 13 to the search request generation unit 12. The search request generation unit 12 generates a search request based on information from the user input unit 13 and transmits the request to the search engine 5 via the network 6. This request includes information searched by the user. Based on the information, the search engine 5 searches the database including information related to distributable content, and uses the search result as content to obtain a content acquisition unit. 7 is supplied. The content acquisition unit 7 transmits the content acquired from the search engine 5 to the content display unit 10, and the content display unit 10 displays the content from the content acquisition unit 7 on the display screen. In this way, the user can search for contents in the store and browse the search results.

[Related Content Search]
When a user browses content (electronic book), for example, when the content is browsed to the end, if the content is series content, then there are many users who want to browse content (related content) of the same series next. . Therefore, in the related content search system 1 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to search for related content in the same series as the content that the user has finished browsing (hereinafter referred to as series search). For example, when the user browses the content to the end, a dialog for prompting the user's next operation as shown in FIG. 4 is popped up on the viewer. In the dialog of FIG. 4, the next operation can be selected from “return to top”, “search for series”, and “end viewer”. When the user selects “Search Series” from these, the related content search system 1 executes a series search.

The series search according to the present embodiment is characterized in that it is performed using content supplementary information attached to the content. As shown in FIG. 3, the content supplementary information added to the electronic book data includes a large number of information such as a content ID, a title, a series name, and an author. In the series search, a search is performed by paying attention to the series name in the content-accompanying information.

Specific search processing will be described. First, when a user performs a search operation (for example, an operation of pressing a “series search” button in the dialog shown in FIG. 4), the information (for example, a search instruction) is received from the user input unit 13 as content supplementary information. It is transmitted to the acquisition unit 11. When receiving the search instruction from the user input unit 13, the content incidental information acquisition unit 11 acquires the content incidental information of the content that has been browsed by the user from the content incidental information storage unit 9. At this time, the content supplementary information acquisition unit 11 can specify content supplementary information to be acquired by obtaining information (for example, a title, a content ID, etc.) of content that has been browsed by the user. When the user instructs a series search, the content determination unit (not shown) determines the content that the user has finished browsing, and the information (title, content ID, etc.) is acquired as content supplementary information. You may make it send to the part 11. FIG.

When the content incidental information acquisition unit 11 acquires the content incidental information of the content that has been browsed by the user, the content incidental information acquisition unit 11 transmits it to the search request generation unit 12. The search request generation unit 12 generates a request for searching related content of the content that the user has finished browsing based on the content supplementary information from the content supplementary information acquisition unit 11. As described above, in the series search, the search is performed by paying attention to the series name in the content supplementary information. For this reason, the request includes information on the series name of the content that the user has finished browsing. The request generated by the search request generation unit 12 is transmitted to the search engine 5 via the network 6. Based on the series name information included in the request from the search request generator 12, the search engine 5 searches for a content having the same series name from a database including information on distributable content. This database is a database in which information related to contents that can be distributed from the front server 3 or the content distribution server 4 is stored, and information is periodically updated. Search results from the search engine 5 are supplied to the content acquisition unit 7 as content. The content acquisition unit 7 transmits the content acquired from the search engine 5 to the content display unit 10, and the content display unit 10 displays the content from the content acquisition unit 7 on the display screen. In this way, a series search is performed.

If a series search according to the present embodiment is performed, it is possible to respond to the feeling of the user who wants to browse the content (electronic book) that the user has finished browsing and the content (related content) of the same series. In particular, the series search according to the present embodiment automatically searches for the content of the same series as the content that the user has finished browsing and displays the search result to the user as long as the user executes the series search. The related content can be recognized (acquired) very easily without bothering the user.

Also, conventionally, content that has been issued in order from the first volume or content that has been issued in order from the first episode is searched as series content, or a series that includes the series name in part of the title of the content. Searching as a content or searching for a series content having the same part of the content ID. However, series content composed of a plurality of contents is not necessarily issued in order from one volume or one episode, and the same series name is not necessarily attached to the title. Some content IDs assigned to each content are not systematized for each series. Furthermore, content IDs are not uniform in the case of different publishers.

[Series search timing]
In the above, a configuration has been shown in which a dialog as shown in FIG. 4 pops up on the viewer when the user browses the content to the end. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. For example, a series search can be executed in the following cases.

First, the series search may be executed while the user is browsing the content. For example, when a user wants to search (or purchase) content in the same series as the content while browsing the content, the user presses a menu button or the like to A dialog prompting the next operation may be displayed, and the user may select to execute the series search.

Alternatively, the series search may be executed while the content list screen of the user terminal 2 is displayed. The content list screen is a screen that displays a list of content owned by the user, and is a screen on which content information such as the title and author of each content is displayed. The content list screen may be a screen on which icons of content owned by the user are listed, or may be a screen displaying the content owned by the user in a list format. For example, when the user wants to search (or purchase) a content in the same series as a specific content among the content displayed on the content list screen, the user presses a menu button or the like while the content is selected. By pressing, a dialog for prompting the user's next operation similar to that shown in FIG. 4 may be displayed, and the user may select to execute the series search.

As described above, the timing at which the series search can be executed is not particularly limited, and it is preferable that the series search can be executed at a timing that the user likes.

[Another example of related content search]
By the way, depending on the content, series name information may not be included in the attached content supplementary information. In this case, it is not possible to search for the content of the same series as the content that the user wanted to search for the series (that is, the content that executes the series search). Therefore, if the content of the same series as the content for which the series search is executed cannot be searched, the related content search system 1 according to the present embodiment displays the content highly relevant to the content to the user. The content of the same author as the content is searched based on the author information (author information) included in the content supplementary information of the content. Therefore, when the series name is not included in the content supplementary information, the search is performed with a focus on the author.

Specific search processing will be described. As described above, when the user performs a search operation (for example, an operation of pressing the “Search Series” button in the dialog shown in FIG. 4), a search instruction is sent from the user input unit to the content-accompanying information acquisition unit 11. Sent. Upon receiving a search instruction from the user input unit 13, the content incidental information acquisition unit 11 acquires the content incidental information assigned to the content for which the series search is performed from the content incidental information storage unit 9, and retrieves it. 12 to send. The search request generation unit 12 generates a request for searching for related content of the content based on the content supplementary information from the content supplementary information acquisition unit 11. At this time, if the content supplementary information includes series name information, the search request generation unit 12 generates a request including the series name information, and the content supplementary information does not include the series name information. In this case, a request including the author's information is generated. In the following description, it is assumed that the series information is not included in the content supplementary information.

The request generated by the search request generation unit 12 is transmitted to the search engine 5 via the network 6. The search engine 5 searches for the content of the same author from a database including information on the distributable content based on the information of the author included in the request from the search request generator 12. The search result is supplied to the content acquisition unit 7 as content. The content acquisition unit 7 transmits the content acquired from the search engine 5 to the content display unit 10, and the content display unit 10 displays the content from the content acquisition unit 7 on the display screen.

In this way, when the content supplementary information does not include series name information, the content for which the series search is performed by searching for the content of the same author based on the information of the author included in the content supplementary information It is possible to notify (provide) the content of the same author who is very closely related to the user. If there are multiple authors of the content for which the series search is to be performed, the content authored by the same authors as the above content is notified to the user by performing a search with all the authors as a set ( Provided).

Also, depending on the author, even if it is not serialized, there may be cases where a plurality of contents are associated with each other. Such content is considered almost series content for the user. Therefore, even if content supplementary information does not include series name information, users can be notified (provided) of content that can be regarded as almost series content by searching for the author's content based on the author's information. )can do.

Note that if the user is browsing content that is not series content, after browsing the content, there are many users who want to browse another content of the same author next time. Therefore, as in this embodiment, by searching for the content of the author based on the information of the author, the content of the user who has finished browsing and the content of the user who wants to browse the content of the author I can respond.

[Related Content Search Method]
In the following, a series of related content search methods will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the related content search method according to the present embodiment. First, the user who carries the user terminal 2 of the related content search system 1 according to the present embodiment finishes browsing the purchased content (electronic book), or is browsing the content, Assume that the content list screen is displayed. In such a case, the user can execute “series search” by operating the user terminal 2. For example, when the user has finished browsing the purchased content, a dialog for prompting the user's next operation as shown in FIG. 4 can be displayed in a pop-up so that the user can select to execute a series search. . Or, when the content list screen is displayed on the user terminal 2 while browsing the content purchased by the user, for example, when the user presses a menu button or the like, A dialog prompting the next operation can be displayed and the user can select to execute the series search.

If the user performs a series search, the information (for example, search instruction) is transmitted from the user input unit 13 to the content-accompanying information acquisition unit 11 (Yes in Step 1; hereinafter abbreviated as S1). When receiving the search instruction from the user input unit 13, the content incidental information acquisition unit 11 acquires the content incidental information of the content that the user has finished browsing from the content incidental information storage unit 9 (S2).

When the content incidental information acquisition unit 11 acquires the content incidental information of the content that has been browsed by the user, the content incidental information acquisition unit 11 transmits it to the search request generation unit 12. The search request generation unit 12 generates a request for searching related content of the content that the user has finished browsing based on the content supplementary information from the content supplementary information acquisition unit 11. At this time, the search request generation unit 12 generates a request including the information of the series name if the content incidental information includes the information of the series name (S3, Yes). The request generated by the search request generation unit 12 is transmitted to the search engine 5 via the network 6. Based on the series name information included in the request from the search request generator 12, the search engine 5 searches for a content having the same series name from a database including information on distributable content (S4).

On the other hand, when the content supplementary information does not include the series name information (S3, No), the search request generation unit 12 generates a request including the author information. The request generated by the search request generation unit 12 is transmitted to the search engine 5 via the network 6. The search engine 5 searches for the content of the same author from a database including information on distributable content based on the information of the author included in the request from the search request generation unit 12 (S6).

The search result by the search engine 5 is supplied to the content acquisition unit 7 as content. The content acquisition unit 7 transmits the content acquired from the search engine 5 to the content display unit 10, and the content display unit 10 displays the content from the content acquisition unit 7 on the display screen (S5).

[Screen display when searching for series]
As described above, in the related content search system 1 according to the present embodiment, when the content supplementary information of the content for which the series search is performed does not include the series name information, the author information included in the content supplementary information is used. Use to search. In this case, it is desirable to notify the user that the search is performed using the information of the author included in the content supplementary information. Therefore, for example, a not-shown notification means toast-displays a message indicating that the search is performed using the author's information included in the content supplementary information, such as “Search by author information because there is no series information”. Good. The toast display is a temporary pop-up display of a small window in which information notification messages and the like are described. According to this, the user can know that the series search is changed from the search based on the information of the series name to the search based on the information of the author.

In addition, content supplementary information includes the author's information in most cases, but if the content supplementary information does not include either the series name information or the author's information, a search is performed. I can't. In this case, it is desirable to notify the user that the series search cannot be performed. Therefore, for example, a message indicating that the series search cannot be performed, such as “cannot search because there is no series information / author information”, may be displayed in a toast.

[Summary]
As described above, the related content search system according to one aspect of the present invention is a related content search system including a user terminal and a server. The user terminal is assigned to the content and the content, and the content And a search request transmission means for transmitting a search request including information on a series name included in the content incidental information to the server, wherein the server transmits the search request. Content that can receive the related content having the same series name as the series name based on the receiving unit that receives the search request transmitted from the means and the series name information included in the search request From a database that stores information about A search unit for performing communication content search, the results of the search means searches and a search result transmitting means for transmitting to the user terminal.

A related content search method according to an aspect of the present invention is a related content search method executed by a related content search system including a user terminal and a server, wherein the user terminal is assigned to the content and the content. A search request transmission step of transmitting a search request including information on a series name included in the content supplementary information stored in the storage unit storing the content supplementary information related to the content to the server, The server, based on the reception step of receiving the search request transmitted in the search request transmission step, and the information of the series name included in the search request, related content having the same series name as the series name, Content that can be distributed to user terminals A search step of performing a related content search for searching from a database storing information regarding the result of a search in the search step to perform a search result transmission step of transmitting to the user terminal.

Further, in the related content search system according to an aspect of the present invention, the search request transmission unit includes an author included in the content supplemental information when the content supplementary information does not include the series name information. A search request including the information of the author is transmitted to the server, and the search means searches the database for related content of the same author as the author based on the information of the author included in the search request. You may perform a related content search.

According to the above configuration, when the content supplementary information does not include the series name information, the user owns the content by searching for the content of the same author based on the information of the author included in the content supplementary information. It is possible to notify (provide) the content of the same author who is very closely related to the content being provided to the user.

In the related content search system according to an aspect of the present invention, when the content supplementary information does not include the series name information, the search is performed based on the author's information included in the content supplementary information. The means may further comprise notification means for notifying that the related content search is to be executed.

According to the above configuration, the user can know that the related content search by the search means has been changed from the search based on the series name information to the search based on the author information.

In the related content search system according to an aspect of the present invention, the user terminal includes a reproducing unit that reproduces the content, an input unit that receives an instruction to execute the related content search by the search unit from a user, An execution instruction transmission means for transmitting an execution instruction to the search means; and the search means receives the execution instruction from the execution instruction transmission means when the reproduction means finishes reproducing the content; The related content search may be performed.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to respond to the feeling of the user who wants to browse the content of the same series as the content that the user has browsed.

In the related content search system according to an aspect of the present invention, the user terminal includes a reproducing unit that reproduces the content, an input unit that receives an instruction to execute the related content search by the search unit from a user, An execution instruction transmission means for transmitting an execution instruction to the search means, and the search means receives the execution instruction from the execution instruction transmission means while the reproduction means is reproducing the content; The related content search may be performed.

According to the above configuration, when the user wants to search for content in the same series as the content while browsing the content, the user inputs an execution instruction for search processing by the search unit, Search processing can be executed.

In the related content search system according to an aspect of the present invention, the user terminal includes a reproducing unit that reproduces the content, an input unit that receives an instruction to execute the related content search by the search unit from a user, Execution instruction transmitting means for transmitting an execution instruction to the search means, wherein the search means executes the execution in a state where the reproduction means is reproducing data representing the icon of the content or the content list. When the execution instruction is received from the instruction transmitting means, the related content search may be performed.

According to the above configuration, among the contents displayed on the content list screen such as the screen displaying the icon of the content owned by the user or the screen displaying the list of the content owned by the user When it is desired to search for a content of the same series as a specific content, the user can cause the search process to be executed by inputting a search process execution instruction by the search unit while the content is selected.

The specific embodiments or examples made in the detailed description section of the invention are merely to clarify the technical contents of the present invention, and are limited to such specific examples and are interpreted in a narrow sense. It should be understood that various modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

The related content search system according to an aspect of the present invention can be applied to a system that distributes content from a server to a user terminal. Examples of the user terminal include a portable communication terminal device carried by the user individually, such as a mobile phone, an electronic book reader, and other PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants).

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Related content search system 2 User terminal 3 Front server 4 Content delivery server 5 Search engine (a server, a receiving means, a search means, a search result transmission means)
6 Network 7 Content acquisition unit 8 Content storage unit 9 Content supplementary information storage unit 10 Content display unit (reproduction means)
11 Content Accompanying Information Acquisition Unit 12 Search Request Generation Unit (Search Request Transmitting Unit, Execution Instruction Transmitting Unit)
13 User input section (input means)
14 Control unit 15 Storage unit

Claims

In a related content search system including a user terminal and a server,
The user terminal is
A storage unit that stores content and content-accompanying information related to the content that is given to the content;
Search request transmission means for transmitting a search request including information on a series name included in the content-accompanying information to the server,
The server
Receiving means for receiving the search request transmitted from the search request transmitting means;
Based on the information on the series name included in the search request, a search is performed to search related content having the same series name as the series name from a database storing information on content that can be distributed to the user terminal. Means,
A related content search system comprising: search result transmission means for transmitting a result searched by the search means to the user terminal.
The search request transmission means transmits a search request including information on the author included in the content supplementary information to the server when the content supplementary information does not include the information on the series name.
2. The search unit according to claim 1, wherein the search means performs a related content search for searching related content of the same author as the author from the database based on the information of the author included in the search request. The related content search system described.
A notification means for notifying that the search means executes the related content search based on the author's information included in the content supplementary information when the content supplementary information does not include the series name information; The related content search system according to claim 2, further comprising:
The user terminal is
Playback means for playing back the content;
Input means for receiving an instruction to execute the related content search by the search means from a user;
Execution instruction transmission means for transmitting the execution instruction to the search means,
4. The retrieval unit according to claim 1, wherein the retrieval unit performs the related content retrieval when the execution unit receives the execution instruction from the execution instruction transmission unit when the reproduction unit finishes reproducing the content. The related content search system according to claim 1.
The user terminal is
Playback means for playing back the content;
Input means for receiving an instruction to execute the related content search by the search means from a user;
Execution instruction transmission means for transmitting the execution instruction to the search means,
4. The retrieval unit according to claim 1, wherein the retrieval unit performs the related content retrieval when receiving the execution instruction from the execution instruction transmitting unit while the reproduction unit is reproducing the content. The related content search system according to claim 1.
The user terminal is
Playback means for playing back the content;
Input means for receiving an instruction to execute the related content search by the search means from a user;
Execution instruction transmission means for transmitting the execution instruction to the search means,
The search means performs the related content search when receiving the execution instruction from the execution instruction transmitting means in a state where the reproduction means is reproducing the data representing the icon of the content or the content list. The related content search system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:
A related content search method executed by a related content search system including a user terminal and a server,
The user terminal is
A search request for transmitting a search request including information on a series name included in the content supplementary information stored in a storage unit that stores the content and content supplementary information related to the content to the server. Execute the send step,
The server
A receiving step for receiving the search request sent in the search request sending step;
Based on the information on the series name included in the search request, a search is performed to search related content having the same series name as the series name from a database storing information on content that can be distributed to the user terminal. Steps,
A related content search method comprising: executing a search result transmission step of transmitting a search result in the search step to the user terminal.